Trade Forex, Metals, Oil, and Stock Indices tax-free* with FXCM LTD. by opening a Spread Betting account. Spread Betting accounts operate exactly like standard FXCM LTD. accounts, but enjoy special tax-free* status in the UK and Ireland. The minimum to open a live account is £50. Only available to residents of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Every time you spread bet forex with FXCM LTD, we will trade in an underlying market to hedge your bet on a one-to-one basis. If you open a long spread bet in EUR/USD, for instance, FXCM LTD. will take a corresponding long position in the same currency pair. Therefore, from the time of the trade confirmation, the outcome of your trading has no effect on FXCM LTD's profit or loss.

No Re-quotes

Some Brokers trade against their clients and re-quote in order to make money on your trades. That is a conflict of interest. FXCM will not interfere in your trading by re-quoting your trades. After you send FXCM an order, your position is executed as soon as our hedge is established. This means that the order you placed is filled without re-quotes during most market conditions.

Many market makers issue re-quotes, and sometimes for legitimate reasons. But re-quoting carries the potential for conflict of interest between the market maker and the client. If a market-making firm finds it cannot make money on your trades, it may provide you with an aggressive re-quote, regardless of the true market price.

To avoid any conflict, FXCM will never re-quote you another price. Our dealers simply ensure that every client order we receive is hedged. Since all spread bets are hedged real-time in their various underlying markets, FXCM's spread can vary.

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FLEXIBLE TRADE SIZES

Most Spread Bet brokers have a minimum trade size of 1 GBP a point. However with FXCM traders have more flexibility and can trade as low as 6p a point across major FX pairs. This gives traders the precision to pinpoint the exact trade size they're looking to place in the market; as well as the ability to easily scale in and out of positions.

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NO DEALING DESK FOREX EXECUTION

FXCM's No Dealing Desk Forex Execution aims to provide transparent and fair execution. Every trade is executed back to back with one of multiple liquidity providers, which compete the provide FXCM with bid and ask prices. The best spreads available to FXCM are streamed to you with a markup, which is how FXCM is compensated.

  • No conflict of interest between broker and trader
  • No dealer intervention in trades
  • Liquidity providers do not see your stops, limits and entry orders
  • Competition reduces the potential for market manipulation by price providers

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NO DEBIT BALANCES

Some spread betting brokers profit when a client is liquidated. If the broker has not hedged your position and you have lost all your money, theoretically the broker can keep that money even when your trades have not even left their trading platform. However, when you trade with FXCM's no dealing desk forex execution, we hedge your position with a bank, a broker dealer or any other liquidity provider. If you are liquidated, we simultaneously liquidate our hedge position. FXCM may or may not offset individual transactions in Oil, Metals and Stock Indices; therefore, the execution of these products may differ in comparison to the execution of currency pairs.

It is FXCM's policy to credit accounts to a zero balance when debit balances occur as a result of trading. One of the greatest concerns traders have about leverage is that a sizable loss could result in owing money to their broker. At FXCM, your maximum risk of loss is limited by the amount in your account. All accounts are tracked by our "Margin Watcher" feature. With the Margin Watcher feature, if account equity falls below margin requirements, the FXCM Trading Station will trigger an order to close all open positions

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TAX-FREE* TRADING & GENEROUS LEVERAGE†

Spread betting is only available for individual investors, and is free of stamp duty and UK capital gains tax. In addition, spread betting is a way to make efficient use of trading capital for UK and Ireland residents. Whichever way the markets move, you can take a position to benefit from the movement—and for only a fraction of the capital outlay that would be required to trade the market directly.

Financial spread betting is a leveraged product, which means that you only have to put up a percentage of the total value of the position. (Typical spread bet margins with FXCM vary between 1% and 10%.) Margin trading is not necessarily for everyone because leverage can magnify losses as well as gains. Please consult an investment adviser to enquire about your own personal circumstances.

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* The UK tax treatment of your financial betting activities depends on your individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future, or may differ in other jurisdictions.

† Foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose.

Important Information: FXCM LTD offers spread betting exclusively to UK and Ireland Residents. Residents of other countries are NOT eligible. Spread betting is not intended for distribution to, or use by any person in any country and jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation.